


A Kiss & A Confession

by SmutWithPlot



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-23 00:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8306113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmutWithPlot/pseuds/SmutWithPlot
Summary: In the aftermath of... Everything, Percy is trying to ease his body in the springs beneath the Mansion. He did not anticipate the half-elf ranger hunting for him, nor the secret she is desperate to tell him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Up to date fanfic! WOO! Enjoy it, Thursday is right around the corner, and then it'll be AU!

"...Alright. I think that's enough for me."

  
"Yes, alright." Percy blinks furiously, a part of him realising he almost fell asleep in the hot baths. _That would be an embarassing way to go, after all that_ , he thought to himself. "I'll be just behind you, I'm sure."

She echoed a repeat, and then the sound of a door before the druid doubtless tiptoed down the hall.

He let out a deep sigh. The pretense of cleaning off the bile and gore of a dragon's hide was a good excuse to sit in the baths. It was good for his aching body, but surely it was cooking him from the inside out... Still. He was so very, very weak... He didn't think anyone realised how weak he felt. Not that he ever felt particularly strong, not compared to some he wouldn't mention, but... 

And then he heard a click. He craned his neck to see.

"Did you forget something?" he called out. He blinked furiously, reaching for his glasses, and putting them on, looking about for whatever it was she might have left behind. He didn't see anything, but turned about in the water to be safe, heel on the smooth, hot stones, feeling decadent underneath him. "Whatever it is, I don't see--"

And as he turned, instead of Keyleth, it was Vex'ahlia.

"Oh." He pushed his glasses a little higher, blinking past the droplets on the spectacles. "Hello. Did you want to come in?"

She was out of her armour, a mere chemise and leather trousers, and that precious blue feather behind one ear. She seemed to bite her lip, like she was trying to figure out how to say something, an arm in one hand. "Erm... I was thinking about it." She looked to the water, as if it looked rather unpleasant after all, and he tilted his head to one side.

"Well, the muck and nonsense is gone, I think it's safe," he assured her with a smile. He reached behind him, finding his seat again and sitting. _Come on in, the water's fine_ , he was tempted to say, but he kept it to himself. He cleared his throat and took off his glasses, putting them back behind him. He let out a heavy sigh as he leaned his head back on the stone. "...Probably best someone is with me here. I'm liable to fall asleep and drown myself, heheh..."

He didn't hear an answer from her, but it was highly likely she was still standing there, debating... Or maybe quietly leaving, and he couldn't hear her over the churning water. "...Vex'ahlia?"

And then, a _sploosh_  of water from afar, and he smiled to himself. _Coming in after all_ , he noted, leaning his head back again. The water felt wonderful, lulling him into a warm and gooey state of melting... Much like his own trinkets and experiments, made malleable by heat before being twisted and tempered and folded into something new.

He felt a hand on his knee, and a toe on his. "Oh, sorry."

"Quite alright."

...Yet while the foot moved away, the hand did not.

He turned to her, frowning a little, her form a dark blur in his vision, but the water moved with her as she sat beside him. He reached for his glasses, but found her own wet fingers as well, and she took them first.

"Percy... I have to ask you a question."

A game, then. "Alright. What is your question?"

"How much... Do you remember? About..."

He heard something in her voice that... trembled. He frowned, not liking it. Vex'ahlia was so strong, so... together. Something was vexing her, and whatever bode ill for Vex'ahlia bode ill for them all. "Not... Terribly much, I'm afraid. Or rather... I'm pretty sure I'm better off." He rubbed his hand over his face, then slicked back his hair. "But what I do remember isn't pleasant, so... I'm sure it's better that way."

"Pleasant?" she echoed. "But you said you remembered Keyleth..."

"I remembered a hand," he laughed. "I remembered pain, and torment. I remembered despair and terror and all the things that come and haunt you in your nightmares, that watch you from the shadows. They had me by the soul and it was like..." He couldn't even put words to it. The anguish, the soul crushing despair of it. Like nothing would ever be right again. "I felt something reach out, and I watched it snap, like someone had pulled the covers off of me, and instead of my demons I had true void." He swallowed hard, looking at nothing... As if he could see. "You have to be in a very dark place before nothing is a bright light."

She tapped at his shoulder after a moment, and he turned to look at her. She put on his glasses then, her fingers wet against his ear, and it felt a little silly, but he smiled. "Thank you."

But then he looked at her face, the way she looked like she would be ill, that sweet, broad and grand smile turned into a... Well, the horrified equivalent of a scowl. It was off-putting, and he swallowed again.

"...I wish you wouldn't ask me these questions," he whispered. "I hate to see you troubled so by my own words."

And then she laughed, a desperate, wet thing, and she started to cry, and put her hands to her mouth. Sighing, he moved forward, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She flung her arms around him, her trousers gone, but her shirt still clinging to her form, and she began to sob into his neck. He said quiet reassurances, and just let her grieve...

"I almost lost you Percy," she sobbed. "I almost lost you and I never told you..."

"Shh sh sh sh... There there, dear, it's alright..."

"And... And then we went to Draconia, and fought a bloody dragon..."

He laughed, desperate, not having had a crying Vex'ahlia in his arms before... It's not how he wanted this to ever go, and yet... "Yes... Probably going to have to fight a second one shortly..."

"And you!" She backed away from him, and it pained him to see the tears streaking down her face, her raven haired plait clinging to her, hot and wet from the bath. She clutched her hands to his face, and really, the fear and panick in her eyes was most unbecoming, and yet he was enraptured... "You're still here! And I told myself... But now I can't..."

"Vex'ahlia..." he laughed again. This ridiculous woman... "You're jabbering in riddles and nonsense." He put his hands to hers, pulling them down. "What on earth, woman? You felled a dragon today!"

"With a stolen broom..." she moaned, blinking tears away as she looked away in shame.

"Which was very clever of you!" he added, moving to get into her field of vision, and she looked to him with incredulity. "Gods know how long you sought a way to fly. And damn it, girl, you did it! And you were all ready to... Fly off and make the most of it as it was, and then you came to me to fix it up for you." He adjusted his glasses, realising they were fogging rather badly. "You're brilliant. You must stop beating yourself up about it."

And yet, instead of the blushing smile he was so used to, her face crumpled all the more. "Oh, gods, I'm _worthless_  without you!" She flung herself around him again, sobbing into his shoulder, shifting them both almost a full foot.

He sighed again, arms around her. "You're not worthless, please."

...Truth was, she was starting to hurt him. He was exhausted, and the heat was making him drowsy...

"Vex'ahlia, please." He attempted to pat at her hair, but he just seemed to muss it up more. "You... Stood up to Saundor back in the Feywild--"

"Oh please! Don't say his name!" She thrashed against him, and even beat a fist against his breast, and he snapped his jaw shut.

"...Alright." He grimaced. "...Vex, what is wrong with you?"

She kept her head on his breast for a long moment, and then she looked up with a sharp intake. "You need to know... My part in your resurrection ceremony."

"...Alright." He frowned. "What... Did you do for my resurrection ceremony?" He hadn't thought to ask... When they had resurrected Pike, and her and Grog, and... Well. They had all been rather personal. Everyone was usually quite content to be alive, and hadn't asked... He frowned, not realising that this might be a thing someone would be curious about, but now she had his interest piqued.

She licked her lips, then. Looking right into his eyes with the kind of determination that he was used to. "I told you that I loved you. That what I told him -- What I told Saundor... About my heart..." She trailed off, and swallowed hard, and nodded. "I whispered into your ear... 'It's yours. Always has been.' And I kissed you. That was my contribution. And I... I meant it. With every fiber of my being."

He stared... He's certain he stared. He knows he must have, because his eyes started burning and he had to blink.

"Err... I..."

She closed her eyes, her grip on him loosening, and she seemed to deflate, like that secret had been quietly murdering her for days... And he realised it probably had.

"...Thank you," he said instead, softly. He swallowed. "I don't suppose I could say anything to... Properly express what that means to me."

She looked back up at him, and she looked pained, the regret starting to sink in...

"...I did always say you were my favourite," he added quickly. "I... It's supposed to mean the same thing."

Her eyes widened, looking from spectacled eye to spectacled eye. "...Really?"

He nodded quickly, feeling his stomach churning... Though from the conversation or the stew, he couldn't say. "Have done. For some time." He reached for her hair again, a lopsided smile as he pushed a lock behind her ear, finger touching at the strange length of it... the beauty of the elves. "I always loved elf culture. You were... Wild and beautiful. All cocky sharpshooting and unbridled sensuality, yet sensible and ladylike, decent and coy. When all the girls I grew up with were... vapid dolls in pretty dresses..." He moved closer. "I told you before... You're worth a hundred of them."

She leaned into him, her eyes going dark, and her fingers slithered over the back of his neck. "Percival... You... titled me."

He swallowed again. "Should I ask for your hand, you'll need to be nobility. Best for you to have some grounding in that title before I do."

And then she definitely jumped him, pressing her lips to his, and he wrapped his arms around her tight, relishing it... There was pain, yes, and a bone deep weariness to his body, and he would in no way be able to consummate anything, but a kiss he could do...

A kiss and a confession. The rest could wait until his body recovered. He'd waited long enough as it was. A few more days couldn't hurt.

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I did a Critical Role themed playlist, and I spent about two months working on it, so... Give me a listen? And a share? Maybe a subscription? I'd love you forever! *heart hands*
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYFQPA3plNAEA5MUKhP6pk9AjqZijFkZV


End file.
